Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Walkin’ Dead:Trickin’,
Treatin’ and Trappin’TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott“Hustle
for death/no heaven for a gangsta”The
Cool- Lupe FiascoYou
see them hangin’ around the ‘hood late at night sportin’ the same gear; white
t-shirts and saggin’ skinny jeans. At one point they had spirits, now they are
just zombies who all seem to be hearkening to the same hypnotic call. Try to
talk to them about real Hip Hop and all you get is blank stares and vicious
growls, These are the walkin’ dead who have lost their souls. Just like the
music that they have blastin’ in their headphones...Although
Hip Hop once prided itself in promoting free thought, and individuality, this is
no longer the case , as many rap fans are just zombies following the trend that
whatever the radio is playing at the moment constitutes real Hip Hop and is good
for the culture A song could be straight garbage but if its played enough, the
walkin’ dead will swear on their graves that it is the best rap ever
recorded.Although,
Nas upset many people in 2006, when he proclaimed that “Hip Hop Is Dead”,” in
retrospect , maybe it ain’t the music, Maybe its the people who listen to
it.The
mission of the wicked has not just been to destroy a people ,physically but
mentally as well. Like the creatures from the old zombie flicks, they really
want to eat your brains. For example , during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,
the Africans could not be brought to the Americas as docile slaves until they
first went through a “seasoning process” where their spirits were broken.
This
same “breaking of the spirit” has been carried out in the United States through
various means ranging from drugs , the criminal justice system , to the mis-
educational system, all designed to create a populace of zombies that would not
question authority but do exactly as they were told. Hip
Hop has been used for this purpose ,as well , as those who claim they love the
culture have had their spirits broken so much so that they do not have the
courage to fight against the creatures of the night who are trying to destroy
it. And the results of this are becoming ever more evident.The
once vibrant dance floor has become a virtual graveyard. The music that once
celebrated Peace, Unity and Love now glorifies misogyny, murder and
mayhem.Like
Brand Nubian said on “ Just Don’t Learn,” “We dealin’ with death in
abundance/Dirty guns and /the pungent smell/of those who
fell.”Back
in the day Hip Hop was a quickening spirit with the power to wake up the dead.
Now just listening to one verse of Ratchet Rap can send you immediately into an
intellectual coma. Hip
Hop has become the Haunted House of Wack. It’s just one big costume party with
straight A students dressing up like court jesters and former correctional
officers posing as Mafia Dons. Sad thing about it is that many rap fans can’t
see that it’s all just a masquerade .Also,
as it’s been argued before, the rappers themselves are not totally to blame as
they are just little puppets being controlled
by some evil puppet masters (in the form of the heads of record labels) who hide
behind the curtain and pull the strings We
have allowed the culture vampires to suck the life out of a once great art form
and nobody is trying to throw some holy water on Count Dracula to drive him back
into his coffin.Many
don’t realize that what is now considered Hip Hop is a result of a diabolical
plan devised by some mad scientists in labs disguised as recording studios.
In the name of greed and profit the music industry has created Frankenstein
monsters to destroy a culture that has the potential to liberate poor and
oppressed communities on a global scale. Over the years, these monsters have
taken different forms but their mission has remained the same

The latest monstrous creation is “Roger
Ratchet.” He is the personification of all that is wrong with Hip Hop. A symbol
of what happens when a culture loses its soul. Roger Ratchet is like the
despised Disco Duck of the 70’s . He is the Hip Hop equivalent of George
Clinton’s arch nemesis , “Sir Nose D’Void of Funk” who dedicated his miserable
life fighting against “ The P-Funk Mob.”At
some point somebody has to exorcise this demon out of Hip Hop. Whether , they
use a stake through the heart or a silver bullet, somebody has to return Ratchet
Rap back to the dark evil pit that it slid out of.

In
order for Hip Hop to live, Roger Ratchet must die. So on October 31st
(Halloween) we are asking that the fans of real Hip Hop join us in the “ Death
to Roger Ratchet Campaign" as we bury Ratchet Rap once and for all.
Join
us in yelling with a loud united voice

“Death
to Ratchet Rap! Long live Hip Hop! “TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is , This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a
column for intelligent Hip Hop Headz. He can be contacted at info@nowarningshotsfired.com.
Follow on Twitter @truthminista . For more information on the October 31st
“Death to Ratchet Rap Campaign” go to
http://www.facebook.com/ripRogerRatchet

Monday, October 29, 2012

Saturday, October 27, 2012

(Atlanta) After two days in critical condition, popular rap star, Roger Ratchet is dead. The artist , born as Roger Sam Boman, who was in intensive care resulting from an Acme speaker being dropped on his head, last Wednesday was pronounced dead at 10 o’clock , Friday night. Strangely enough, the rapper seemed to be on the verge of a miraculous recovery when somebody snuck into his room and pulled the plug on his life support machine. When his death was announced loud screams of Hip Hop fans could be heard outside the hospital chanting, “Hooray, the Ratchet kicked the bucket!” The 20 year old rapper is survived by 15 children and eight baby mamas.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott of the Militant Mind Militia exposes the fact that 2 Chainz aka Tauheed Epps is an intelligent academically gifted former high school and college athlete. He poses the question how can 2 Chainz claim to be a felon at 15 years old but play on the high school basketball team and earn a college scholarship at the same time, as well as the bigger question "Why do smart rappers make dumb raps?"

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

(Atlanta) A popular Atlanta rapper is clinging to life tonight after a vicious attack. Twenty year old , Roger Sam Boman, known in the Hip Hop world as “Roger Ratchet” was found critically wounded earlier today outside of Ratchet Recording Studio on Peach Street not far from his home. Details are still sketchy, but according to police reports , someone on the roof of the building dropped a 50 pound Acme speaker on the rapper as he exited the studio around five o’clock this afternoon. The once popular artist, who is credited with creating the genre, “Ratchet Rap “ has recently come under fire from Hip Hop fans who accuse him of destroying the culture . At this point there are no suspects.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Recently,
more than 50,000 disgusted and disillusioned Hip Hop fans jammed into Jefferson
Square Garden to protest what had become of their beloved music . The chants of
“Death to Ratchet Rap” that filled the auditorium, threatened to shake the
Garden from its very foundation. But when the organizers asked for volunteers to
fight against the destruction of the culture, the only noise that could be heard
was the pitter patter of scared little feet runnin’ toward the
exits....In
1993, rapper Queen Latifah made a call for unity in the Hip Hop community on her
song ,"U.N.I.T.Y. " Unfortunately, almost 20 years later, a lot more people have
united to destroy Hip Hop than have organized to try and save
it.Latifah
wasn’t the first person to call for Hip Hoppers to come together for a common
cause, as this was a, relatively, common theme in rap’s early history. During
the early 80’s, Hip Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa was able to parlay his gift of
bringing gangs together to promote Hip Hop unity through the Zulu Nation. Later,
KRS One was able to round up some of the most popular artists of the period to
participate in the Stop the Violence Movement, as well as H.E.A.L. (Human
Education Against Lies) . Even the non-political rappers of the era found
strength in numbers by organizing themselves in crews from the Juice Crew to the
Hit Squad.But
today, the popularity of the “Self Destruction “ video has been replaced by kids
beatin’ the hell outta each other on Youtube. Contrary to the West Coast 1990
unity song “We’re All in the Same Gang,” time has taught us that we are not . We
all are not fightin’ for the same thing. Although,
the commercial rappers are able to brag that their fans are “lovin’ the crew” or
“ain’t nobody messin’ with my clique” for the real Hip Hop revolutionists in
2012, it’s more like “Me Against the World.”The
only reason that ratchet rap is winnin’ right now is because those who claim to
want a return to lyricism and consciousness in Hip Hop are disorganized.
Although there are thousands of disgruntled Hip Hop fans, vehemently, opposed to
the negative direction that Hip Hop has taken, you can hardly name one group
that is actually organizing to overthrow the reign of ratchetness.
Most organizations just want Lil Wayne to perform at their next “fundraiser to
rescue Hip Hop. “Although
the media try to distract us with faux confrontations like Nicki Minaj vs Mariah
Carey or Rick Ross vs Young Jeezy, the real confrontations have been between
those who speak Truth and those who propagate lies. Those who want to be Free
and those who want to stay on the plantation. So the battle rages on between
those who want to use Hip Hop as a tool to wake the masses up and those who want
to use it to lull them to sleep.According
to DC Hip Hop artist, Yasin 360 WiseGuy there is a lack of unity because
politically aware rappers are “trying to outdo each other with consciousness and
are not reaching the people.” The rapper , who recently recorded underground
battle cry “Right Now” throws a stinging indictment at the advocates of real Hip
Hop saying, “ you believe in this and that, but you’re not ready to go to
war.”However,
the stuck on stupid rappers have always been in a state of Code Red; ready to
defend their right to wear saggin’ skinny jeans to the death.Remember
back in the day, No Limit called themselves “soldiers “ and according to Hot Boy
,BG, “Cash Money was an army/better yet a navy.” But since the super-groups of
the late 80’s/early 90’s such as X-Clan and Boogie Down Productions, the
political rappers have been more like a small platoon of Cub
Scouts.If
you ask the average person on the street about today’s rap music , nine times
out of ten he will reminisce about the good ol days when Hip Hop meant
something. Even a little kid will, ashamedly, admit that he “doesn't listen to
the words but only likes the beat.”Even
Rick Ross on his song, "So Sophisticated," mocks that he comes from a city where
“ the
Muslims even Christians hate it.”So,
the obvious question is, if so many people hate the current state of Hip Hop,
how long are we gonna let Ratched Rap define the culture?Let’s
face it. Rap Music is at an all-time low. Once you hit ratchet-ness you are on
the bottom floor. The elevator doesn’t go any lower. Today the music industry is
creatively and spiritually bankrupt. Like T.I. said on “Live Your Life”,
although the rappers today have millions of dollars in the bank, they are “piss
poor morally.”The
only thing that is keepin’ commercial rap afloat, right now, is the implicit
complacency of the silent majority of the population
who appreciate real Hip Hop.In
other words, although many people complain , few are willing to actually do
something about it. For
instance. I get tweets all the time from conscious artists complaining that they
don’t get any support from the Hip Hop community. However, the question that
should be asked is why don’t conscious rappers support each other ? Why is there
no “Union of Real Hip Hop Artists?” There are unions for everything else in this
country made up of people banded together for common goals and objectives, why
not Hip Hop?

It
seems that every person who is fighting to save Hip Hop feels like he is the
last man standing; the proverbial David standing alone against an army of
Goliaths. But the truth is, you are not alone, there are millions of people who
feel the same way that you do.

We just need to rally the
troops.It’s
time for the silent majority to stand up and be heard !If
we organize we can determine the direction of the culture and not leave the
future of Hip Hop in the hands of a few numb-skulls.Together,
we can issue the ultimatum that ‘Pac and the Outlawz gave back in the
day,“
You either ride with us or collide with us.”The
choice is yours.TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for
intelligent Hip Hop headz. For more information on the No Warning Shots Fired
lecture series contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or visit NoWarningShotsFired.com Follow on Twitter
@truthminista

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

“Back
in the day when I was young/I’m not kid anymore “Back
in the Day-AhmadWhen
Hip Hop legend, “Knowledge B. Born,” headed to the stage to finally receive his
Hip Hop Lifetime Achievement Award, he clutched in his right hand a speech
written in graffiti that he had wanted to deliver for years. He planned to put
the entire audience of rap superstars on blast for destroying the culture he
helped create. But when he looked into the faces of a room full of rich kids
half his age.who were either half asleep or busy textin’ ,he just crumbled up
his notes , said “ya’ll keep doin’ your thing.” and left the stage. Leaving the
crowd whispering amongst themselves, “who was that old dude....”‘Recently,
when Rakim went on stage to receive his BET " I Am Hip Hop Award ," I hoped that
he was gonna diss the entire front row of rappers with a fraction of his talent.
I thought maybe the “microphone fiend: was gonna kick a freestyle battle rhyme
and dare any one of the no talent bums to come up and snatch the mic from his
mighty hand. Needless to say, it didn’t happen. Another missed opportunity in
the annals of Hip Hop history. At that point, I had to face the sad reality that
many of my generation have avoided.

Maybe,
we have outgrown Hip Hop.Perhaps
the saddest lament over the state of Hip Hop was Common’s, “I Used to Love
H.E.R.” that talked about the sad relationship between Hip Hop purists and the
gangsta rap that dominated the charts at the time. However, that was almost 18
years ago and many of us who divorced ourselves from Hip Hop have kissed and
made up several times since then.But
like the classic break up line says., “The problem isn't you. The problem is
me.” Maybe we are just too old to be listening to the kiddie porn that is
passing for Hip Hop, nowadays. At some point the thrill of sneakin’ into your
Pop’s secret drawer and peepin’ his Playboy mags wears off and you want a real
relationship with a real woman. Now,
I admit there are days when I want to lock myself away from the world and play
video games while smackin’ on a big box of Fruit Loops, but unfortunately, I
don’t have that luxury. Neither do most folks over 25. Life is moving fast and
deals that will affect my life are being made every second with or without my
input. So I either have to roll with them or get rolled over.But
Hip Hop, is like Neverland, where you never have to grow old and if you are not
careful you can get stuck there and be a 60 year old man poppin’ Viagra while
watching " 106 and Park." And this “don’ t -wanna -grow up Toys R Us Kid”
mentality is reflected in the rap of today. Instead of those black and white
Parental Advisory stickers, in 2012, most Hip Hop Cd's should come
with big, yellow “Caution. Kids at Play “ signs.Today
the rap industry is run by spoiled little brats with a million bucks but 50 cent
brains. Somebody has, indeed, spared the rod and spoiled the child.
But
the question that has always plagued Hip Hop is, who do you blame
?When
confronted, many Hip Hop apologists fall back on that classic line, “Don’t Blame
rap . Blame the parents. “ But does this also apply to the Fathers of Hip Hop?
Maybe they have acted more like deadbeat dads than the head of the Hip Hop
household? This is the only society on the planet where the children are leading
the elders.

Last
year, columnist Bomani Jones addressed this issue in an article , “A Look at
Chuck D’s Open Letter,” where he wrote
, “ it’s
disingenuous for much of the older crowd now to try and ride to hip hop’s rescue
after we definitely had a part in getting to where we are.” But
the sad part is that many old school cats are defending rap music with the same
excuses that were used 20 years ago. They are defending the lyrics of Chief
Keef the same way they did Snoop Dogg in ‘92. But Snoop never grew
up to convert his misogynistic lyrics into words that would uplift the
community. He only produced a legion of Snoop puppies . So Chief Keef will only
produce a tribe of ratchet rappers if left unchecked.This
is not entirely the fault of the rappers ,either. Society has played a major
role in the ghetto man-child mentality.My
generation was bombarded with the idea that “Black men in the America would not
live to see 24.” So when we reached the ripe old age of 25, we had no game plan.
Even much of the now revered “message music” of the 80’s was just repeating the
nihilistic predictions for Black men. Few songs actually challenged the
socio-economic factors that made such a dire prophecy believable. Even the ones
that did offer such an analysis are now considered “old school.”Rapper
Mista Spot on his song , “Classic, “ questioned why you never hear the term “Old
School Rock “ or “Old School Country” but their songs are forever immortalized
as ageless music which can be enjoyed by their grandchildren. The same should be
said about some Hip hop.But
maybe Rock and Country fans respect their music more than we respect Hip Hop.
What record company would dare lump Mick
Jagger and Justin Bieber in the same category and throw them on a track
together? Rolling Stones fans would start bombin’ radio
stations.It
must be remembered that it was the wrath of rock fans that led to the demise of
Disco.In
1979, 90,000 outraged Rockers almost destroyed Comiskey Park in
Chicago at the infamous , Disco Demolition Night, where some deejays decided to
blow up in stack of Disco records to protest the genre. Even today you can still
catch people rockin’ the “Disco Sucks” T-Shirts. Since Ratchet Rap” is the Disco
music of Hip Hop, what if thousands of real Hip Hop fans started rockin’
“Ratchet Rap Sucks” T-Shirts? and destroying CDs?At
the least , it would make a rapper think twice before releasing another immature
, wack Cd.Will the Hip Hop mental midgets hit an
intellectual growth spurt before the culture is totally
destroyed.I
don't know. But one thing is certain.Like
the classic Quincy Jones song says, in the end ,“Everything Must
Change.”Even
Hip Hop.TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for
intelligent Hip Hop headz. For more information on the No Warning Shots Fired
lecture series , contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or visit NoWarningShotsFired.com.
Follow on Twitter @truthminista

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Great Rap Debate:Can
Real Hip Hop Still Move the Crowd?TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott“Some
of you been tryin' to write rhymes for years/but weak ideas irritate my ears
“Move
the Crowd-Eric B and RakinRecently,
The People’s Broadcasting Service sponsored the first Hip Hop Nation
presidential debate between candidates, “B. Serious” and “Roger Ratchet .” When
the moderator asked B. Serious for his thoughts on violence in rap, the artist
gave an eloquent analysis on the exploitation of self hatred and stereotypes by
the industry . However, when the moderator asked Roger Ratchet , the rapper
,angrily, accused him of dissin’ him with a trick question and had his goons
give the poor dude a vicious beat-down, thus ending the
debate...Following
the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney,
many commentators said that the Prez took an L because he didn’t go hard enough
. They argued that he didn't use his arsenal of intellectual weapons to drop
bombs on the challenger. However, the same can be said about those who rep real
Hip Hop when dealing with those who promote ratchet rap.The
art of debating is a time honored tradition as, historically, many of the issues
facing civilizations have been settled by verbal confrontations. The course of
history has been changed by events like the debates over whether the world was
flat or round ,centuries ago , and more importantly the 21st century debate over
whether Kanye West’s Graduation
Cd would outsell 50 Cent’s Curtis.Thanks
to Youtube, some great debates have been preserved ,such as Stokely Carmichael
(Kwame Ture) and George Lincoln Rockwell’s “Black Power vs White Power " debate,
Dr Frances Cress Welsing ‘s challenge of Dr. William Shockley’s racial
inferiority myth or the classic debate between Dr. John Henrik Clarke and
company and Dr. Mary Lefkowitz’s crew over the validity of
Afrocentricity.Hip
Hop’s version of debating came in the form of rap battles, as you couldn't call
yourself a real “MC” “ (Master of Ceremony”) if you couldn't move the crowd.
Some of the classic battles were Busy B versus Kool Mo Dee and the Cold Crush
Brothers vs Dr. Rock and the Force MD’s.But
as the days of lyrics are gone, so are the days of battlin’. Today ,battles are
decided by gunshots or juvenile fisticuffs at Hip Hop Award Shows. And for many
, instead of elevating the consciousness of the audience, “moving the crowd”
means seeing how fast people run for the exit when a fight breaks out in the
club.Although,
there have been hundreds of discussions about Hip Hop over the years, there has
rarely been a confrontation between those who are really trying to save the
culture and those who are determined to destroy it. For
the most part, Hip Hop “debates” have tended to be scripted . Back in the heyday
of “gangsta rap” it was easy for a Death Row artist to diss an elderly C.
Delores Tucker, as the industry was glad to promote the idea that if you opposed
murda music, then you were an old fogey and out of touch with the younger
generation.

Even
when challenged by senior citizens the gangsta rappers rarely debated
themselves, instead they relied on “Hip Hop intellectuals” to serve as their
mouthpieces while they sat back and said “um...yeah...what he
said..”But
today, even the people who used to pump NWA ,24/7 , hate rap music . Also we're
, obviously, not dealing with a generational but an intellectual gap as the days
of the teen rap video programs have been replaced by Hip Hop reality shows about
the everyday lives of rappers who are about six weeks short of a middle age
crisisUnfortunately,
the average supporter of ratchet rap is walking around with a confident swagga ,
while the fan of real Hip Hop is walking around with a “Kick Me, I’m Conscious”
sign taped to his back.

It's
time for those who want to bring back real Hip Hop to either go hard or go home!
Currently,
there is a controversy over whether “real Hip Hop “ is represented best by the
lyricism of legendary lyricists or the low level, lackluster, lethargic nonsense
that dominates the airwaves. Therefore, the question must be posed, “ can Hip
Hop still move the crowd not just physically, but mentally and
spiritually?Those
who appreciate real Hip hop must stand up for truth and stop accepting the big
lie that people like wallowing in the cesspool of ignorance.I
believe that the masses are ready for change and if it ever came down to a
debate between those who want a return to powerful lyrics that touch the soul
and those who love the minstrel music , the lyric lovers would win ,hands down.
But those who want to save Hip Hop need to quit goin' out like suckas and get
ready to rumble !

Sadly, there will always be those who insist
on trying to find “beauty in the hideous,” like Talib Kweli said on the Black
Star CD back in the day.For
those nincompoops who defend the nonsense, the challenge is there . There are
folks like me who ain't afraid to stand up for truth and won’t back down because
we understand that the battle is not for a trophy or some award, but for the
minds of our children.However,
like EPMD said on “You Gots to Chill, “"If
you think about battlin’ you better come prepared/come with your shield and your
armored gear...”TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for
intelligent Hip Hop headz. For more information on the No Warning Shots Fired
Lecture Series, contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or go to NoWarningShotsFired.com Follow on Twitter
@truthminista

Monday, October 1, 2012

Breakin’ 2 Chainz:Why
Do Smart Rappers Make Dumb Raps?TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott“Sophisticated
ignorance/write my curses in cursive”Otis-Kanye
West and Jay ZWhen
the controversial rap superstar , “2 Shackles” granted an interview to an
investigative journalist at the New Jersey Times he agreed that it would be no
holds barred. When the reporter grilled him on everything from his recent baby
mama drama to his beefs with rival rappers he addressed each question without
flinching. Even when she pulled out a copy of the mugshot from his most recent
arrest, he just smiled and autographed it for her. But when she asked him about
the allegations that he had an extremely high IQ and graduated from college
,magna cum laude, he stormed out of the office knockin’ over chairs and mumblin’
something about “birthdays and big booty guhs.....”If
you go strictly by what you hear on the radio ,nowadays, you would swear that
Hip Hop was made up of people with low IQ’s and short attention spans. The music
that once prided itself on being the “Black CNN” now sounds more like a
pornographic version of Sesame Street. Sad thing is that some of today’s rappers
are ,actually ,intelligent. Now, I’m not claimin’ that they are rocket
scientists but they aren’t the bumblin’ buffoons, that you here on the radio,
either.So
the question becomes, why do the smartest rappers make the dumbest
raps?Malcolm
X once said the difference between a clown and a wise man is “the clown never
imitates the wise man but the wise man can imitate the clown.” However, on a
three minute song on the radio, it’s kinda hard to tell. the
difference.Case
in point is the hottest rapper in the game right now, 2 Chainz. Some may find it
hard to believe that the rapper who gave us such songs as “Birthday Song” and
“No Lie” is actually Tauheed Epps , a gifted high school student who , in 1996,
got an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Alabama State University .
Thus , putting him in the company of such , athletic ,scholar entertainers as
Paul Robeson. However, it would be easier to find your favorite rapper's
Illuminati membership card than it would be to find an actual record of 2
Chainz’s academic prowess. So the story goes that he was either an academic
genius who graduated in three years with honors or a college dropout who only
attended a couple of semesters at an institution of higher learning. However,
the fact remains that he is far more intelligent than the music that he makes.
If you ever listen to a n interview when 2 Chainz briefly breaks out of
character and reverts back to Tauheed Epps , you can tell that you're not
dealing with a dummy.So
why the charade?One
can make the argument that the rappers of today were not the first to make dumb
music. Back in Hip Hop’s early years , there were songs by The Rappin’ Duke and
Bobby Jimmy and the Critters. But raps by artists like Biz Markie were seen for
what they were ; commedy. The songs were just an occasional break from the more
lyrically complex Hip Hop of the time. No no one in his right mind wanted to
hear “Pickin’ Boogers” all day, everyday on the radio. But today the airwaves
are flooded with mentally challenged music that has dumbed down the
culture.The
defenders of commercial rap are always quick to point out how Hip Hop is the
most influential art form to ever grace the planet and how it has impacted
countries around the world ,socially and economically. However, when you hit
them with a socio-economic analysis of the music, they accuse you of “thinking
too deep” and all of a sudden the great culture of Hip Hop becomes merely
“entertainment for kids”, like some Saturday morning cartoon. But the critique
must be done.If
we break down the meaning of “2 Chainz, “ we will see that in order to enslave a
people it takes two chains; one physical and one mental. Of the two, the most
powerful is the mental chain as taught by scholars such as Dr. Na’im Akbar,
author of the book, Breaking
the Chains of Psychological Slavery. Because
even when the physical chain around the wrist is broken, the mental chain around
the brain remains.The
emancipation from mental slavery has always been the hardest task for those
trying to free a people. who have been, as the scripture teaches, “destroyed for
a lack of knowledge.” This is made more difficult when those who “reject
knowledge” and dumb themselves down are portrayed to the youth as models of
success.However,
all youth are not going for the okie doke. Recently, the group , Watoto from the
Nile ,released a video called , “Letter to Nicki Minaj” which features a
powerful scene where “Harriet Tubman” removes the chains from Minaj’s
wrists,symbolically meaning that the chains will eventually drop from her brain.
(Good luck with that one.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8JrLFTPSMIt is no accident that the deeper we entered
into the information age, the dumber the music became. It was once said that if
you want to hide something from a Black man, put it in a book. But today, you
don’t even have to take the bus to the library as the information is literally
at the tip of your fingers. So, the mental chains had to become reinforced. The
music industry has been involved in a “brain drain” where they take our best and
brightest artists and turn them into ratchet rappers.While
it may be argued that teenage rappers like Chief Keef are too young to know any
better that's no excuse for rappers like 2 Chainz who are old enough to be their
fathers. They have made a mockery out of the saying “with age comes
wisdom.”It’s
time for us to break the chains. Hip Hop artists must be pressured to stop the
musical mumbo jumbo.Like
KRS said on Still # 1 “Many
of you are educated/open your mouths and speak...”TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for
intelligent Hip Hop headz. For more information on the No Warning Shots Fired
lecture series contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or
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Paul Scott

Paul Scott

Paul Scott is a minister, writer, lecturer and activist. He has been a guest on talk shows around the world including Hannity and Colmes (Fox News), Fox News Live, Nachman (MSNBC), Hot 97 (NY), The Bev. Smith Show, Mancow Morning Show, Mike Medved Show, Russ Parr Morning Show, Mo in the Midday WVON (Chicago), Tom Pope Show (DC) Newstalk 1010 (Toronto) and SAfm (South Africa) discussing the issues of Rap,Race,Religion and Revolution. He has been interviewed by many newspapers including the New York Times, the USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. Scott has lectured at universities across the country including West Virginia University, Clemson, Winston Salem State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. Scott was ordained a Baptist minister in 1998 he later went on to coin the phrase Afrikan Liberation Theology, which is "Black Liberation Theology for the 21st century." After forming the New Righteous Movement, Scott formed the Messianic Afrikan Nation in 2003. For more information contact (984) 377-2064 info@nowarningshotsfired.com or Twitter @NWSF